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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Wyant is the only living person who actually witnessed Bernall's death. She was hiding beneath a table right beside Cassie when it happened. "Emily was right there next to her, and in fact, she was looking right in her eyes, so you'd think she would be able to hear that, being right next to her, if anything was exchanged. And she can't remember anything being said," Wyant explained.
As the Rocky Mountain News reported Sept. 24, Wyant and Bernall were studying alone together in the back of the library. After the gunmen rushed in, the girls crouched beneath a table together, and Cassie began praying aloud: "Dear God. Dear God. Why is this happening? I just want to go home." Dylan Klebold suddenly slammed his hand on the table, yelled "Peekaboo," and looked underneath. He shot Cassie without exchanging a word. Wyant's mother confirmed that the Rocky Mountain News correctly reported the details of her daughter's account.
Salon News reported last Thursday that investigators believed the famous exchange actually took place between Klebold and Valeen Schnurr, and was mistakenly attributed to Bernall. Now Schnurr herself has confirmed that story. On Tuesday the Denver Post reported her account, which she also told to Salon News:
Schnurr was down on her hands and knees bleeding, already hit by 34 shotgun pellets, when one of the killers approached her. She was saying, "Oh, my God, oh, my God, don't let me die," and he asked her if she believed in God. She said yes; he asked why. "Because I believe and my parents brought me up that way," she said. He reloaded, but didn't shoot again. She crawled away.
Schnurr's testimony has been unwavering since the start. After interviewing every person who survived the library to unravel discrepancies, investigators came to believe her story was accurate, and was probably the only such exchange about God with the killers. Investigators have gone public with that belief since the Salon story broke last Thursday.
On Saturday, the Denver Post reported sheriff's spokesman Steve Davis going on the record to state that a lot of investigators had strong doubts about the alleged conversation between Cassie Bernall and Klebold, that they had shared those doubts with the Bernalls, and that those doubts had only grown since they alerted the Bernalls to their concerns.
Friday, the Rocky Mountain News also cast doubt on the account credited with starting the Cassie myth. Division Chief John Kiekbusch said the entire story-that the exchange about God had been between Bernall and Klebold -- began with survivor Craig Scott.
"[Scott] told investigators he heard the "Yes" comment and recognized the voice as Cassie Bernall's," the News reported. "He did not actually see the individuals involved ... Investigators said Scott was asked to point out where the gunmen were at the time, and he indicated a table where Valeen Schnurr -- not Bernall was hiding."
A reporter for the paper said the News was waiting to run a story debunking several Columbine myths, including Bernall's, until a few weeks before the report was released. It was not until the Salon story broke, he said, that Wyant would allow the paper to use her name. News metro editor Steve Myers confirmed that the paper had much of the information about the myths Salon debunked Sept. 23.
"The things that you reported were not unknown to me," Myers said. He abruptly ended the conversation when questioned about the ethics of sitting on the Bernall disclosures when the book was released.
